


The Obstacles In Our Way

by ChrissyStriped



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dubious Consent, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Master/Slave, Non-Sexual Slavery, Racism, Sexual Slavery, Slow Burn, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 16:07:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30142089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrissyStriped/pseuds/ChrissyStriped
Summary: Monarchy is reinstated in Noiriden and with it slavery that was abolished during the time of the Republic.Marcus's colleague and friend was made a slave and he intends to do everything in his power to keep him save. Of course, with this power imbalance between them, he can never give in to his feelings now, can he?
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	The Obstacles In Our Way

Marcus paced tensely up and down the living room. They had scheduled the handover for 2 p.m., he’d taken the afternoon off to take care of that. He jumped when the bell rang and almost fell over his own feet as he hurried to the door.

“Good afternoon, Mr von Aurich. My name is Unterhuber, I’m here to see that the regulations for transferring a slave of the crown to your care are met.”

Marcus nodded and tried not to stare at the second man who stood behind Unterhuber, his head humbly bowed.

“Come in, Mr Unterhuber. Can I offer you something to drink?”

Unterhuber shook his head. “Thank you. I’d like to look at his sleeping place.”

“Of course. Please, follow me.”

Unterhuber flicked his fingers and pointed at the floor. “Wait here, slave.”

The slave knelt wordlessly and Marcus led Unterhuber to the living room where he’d set up a narrow bed in a corner of the room.

“I know that a sleeping place in the bed room is usual, but mine is too small for that. I already applied for a larger apartment because of my changed circumstances, but as you know these things take time.”

Unterhuber nodded and made a note on his clipboard. “That’s fine. Regulations only order that the slave has his or her own bed, where you put it is your business. Let’s get to requirements: You are responsible for clothing and feeding the slave. Larger punishments are to be coordinated with the authorized slave officer – which is me. Don’t forget that the slave is property of the crown and only lent to you. You’ll find further details in the service regulations. Do you have questions?”

Marcus shook his head. He almost couldn’t believe that this really happened. He’d really managed to get this particular slave!

“Very well. As you are aware, he is not completely trained.”

Marcus nodded. They _had_ contacted him to explain that they’d need a few more months to train the slave he’d requested. He had insisted that he’d be given to him immediately.

“Very well”, Unterhuber said again and handed him the clipboard. “Please sign here to confirm that you are aware that there might be difficulties because of that and that you won’t make the training office liable for it. And here to confirm that you received the service regulations. We are going to get in touch in the next two weeks to make an appointment with the training office for check-up. Should you encounter problems, don’t hesitate to call us.”

Unterhuber gave him a copy of the forms and Marcus saw him to the door. He took a deep breath and waited for the steps in the stairwell to fade before turning around to the slave.

“Lír”, he whispered.

_“Lir”, Andreas said when Lír entered the office, breathing heavily from running up the stairs. “The new boss wants to see you.”_

_He threw him a compassionate look. What? He was already here? Lír threw his briefcase on his desk, righted his tie and combed his hair that had been mussed up by the hat. He was late – the tram's fault – he could at least make a good first impression with his appearance. At least Mayer was on holiday, he would have laughed up his sleeve if he’d seen him be late on the new department head's first day. Lír took a deep breath before stepping into the hallway again and knocking on the door of the department head._

_“Come in!”, he heard the voice of Miss Sailer, the secretary. “Ah, Mr Darún, you are expected, please go through.”_

_Lír felt like he was facing the gallows. Why did the new boss have to be one of the over-punctual sort and show up bright and early on his first day._

_“Mr Darún?”_

_Lír blinked surprised at the man behind the desk and felt anger rise inside him despite his best intents. This... schoolboy had been chosen over him? Yes, he was very aware that it was almost impossible for a Pard to be put in a leading position, but it still annoyed him._

_“Good morning, please sit down.”_ _Lír obeyed, his thoughts somewhere else. “My name is Marcus von Aurich. I was told you applied for this position, too.”_

_Lír nodded dazedly. Delightful, a noble. And whoever had told him that he’d applied, too, surely hadn’t done so with his best interest in mind. Lír knew he had enemies because Old Demel had supported him. He owed it to him that he had the rank of a head clerk. He had made it possible for him to take a class to qualify for the position of the department head – Demel had wanted him as his successor. But Parder weren’t given leading positions and that was why this boy who was still wet behind the ears was now his superior._

_“I can imagine that it must have been a disappointment to not get the position”, von Aurich continued. “I hope we can work well together regardless. You are one of the longest-serving clerks in this department and I’d like to be able to rely on your experience.”_

_“You can of course, Mr von Aurich”, Lír answered politely._

_He was wary. The man was too nice. He hadn’t mentioned his lateness with a word and he treated him like an equal. Something was wrong. Or didn’t he know... but he_ must _know, he was too well informed about him._

_“I have an appointment with Dr von Stifter today, but maybe we could have lunch together tomorrow – at Heimann’s, I’ll invite you, of course – and get to know each other. I may appoint my own deputy and you were most warmly recommended to me by Mr Demel.”_

_Lír stared at him. Why should he make a rival his deputy?_

_“Mr von Aurich”, he felt now compelled to say, “you maybe don’t realise that I’m a Pard...”_

_Von Aurich smiled. “Oh, I know. Some of your colleagues couldn’t wait to tell me. They probably thought it would raise their chances with me.” He opened a pocket watch and stood up. “I have an appointment now.”_ _Lír shook the offered hand in befuddlement. “To a successful cooperation, Mr Darún. Lunch, tomorrow at twelve. I’ll meet you there.”_

_Andreas looked curious when Lír came back to their shared office._

_“Was it bad?”, he asked sympathetically._

_Lír sat down and shook his head. “He invited me to lunch. I got the impression that he wants to make me his deputy.”_

_“But that’s marvellous!” Andreas grinned widely._

_He was the most good-natured person Lír knew and had no ambitions at all, especially not now that he was two years before his retirement. He hadn’t begrudged Lír the promotion to head clerk and he wouldn’t begrudge him being made deputy department head._

_“But please make sure that I’ll get as pleasant an office partner as you were all these years.”_

_Lír laughed. “You aren’t rid of me, yet. Nothing’s settled, but I promise.”_

“Master”, Lír answered with vacant voice. “How can I be of service?”

A cold shiver ran down Marcus’s back. He didn’t sound like the Lír he knew.

“Gods”, he mumbled. “What did they do to you?”

He knew that after the revolution all Parder had been put into re-education institutions, but what exactly happened there...

“I was shown my natural position, Master”, Lír answered.

Marcus flopped down on the couch. “Please, Lír, sit down with me.”

Lír stood up and came to him to kneel down beside him.

“No, please sit down beside me. We need to talk.”

Lír threw him a quick look.

“I was taught that it isn’t appropriate for a slave to use the same furniture as his betters, Master.”

“I couldn’t care less about propriety!”, Marcus snapped.

When Lír winced at his sharp voice like a beaten dog, he felt immediately bad about it.

“Lír...” he sighed. “Can we act for a moment, as if nothing had happened and we were still colleagues... _friends_?”

Lír looked so distrusfully at him that his heart almost stopped. Gods! Did he think he was testing him?

“A Pard can’t be the friend of a Noirid, Master”, he said softly. “You are too high above us.”

“You don’t really believe that”, Marcus said. “I can hear the propaganda and I can’t believe that you have forgotten so quickly what was between us. Two months?”

“You would be surprised about how many things can change in two months, Master”, Lír answered, his voice husky.

“Come here”, Marcus said.

Lír didn’t seem to have any objections about sitting in his lap and Marcus embraced him tightly.

“You are save here”, he murmured into his ear. “No one’s going to hurt you. I’ll protect you.”

Lír started to sob and hid his face at Marcus’s shoulder. Marcus gently caressed his fair hair. Oh, he’d so often wished to do that under entirely different circumstances. Now it didn’t feel sexual at all, he wanted only to comfort him.

_Lír hopped laughing on a barstool and tried to catch his breath. Marcus had invited him to go dancing and they’d been on the dance floor all night. Marcus was a good dancer. Now he ordered two beers and pushed one of the glasses in Lír’s direction. They clinked glasses and Lír took a deep drought. He’d worried a little that they’d stick out – a Noirid and a Pard dancing together – but it seemed to be not unusual in this club._

_“How come that you are so well informed about the Gander nightlife when you only just moved here?”, he asked and Marcus laughed._

_“How come that you aren’t when you've lived here for years?”, he joked._

_Lír rubbed his thumb and index finger together._

_“I can barely afford a decent apartment. No money left for frivolities. Why do you think I had an eye on your position?”_

_Lír winked at him. It still smarted a little that they’d disregarded him, but that wasn’t Marcus’s fault and now that he knew him better he couldn’t be angry at him for it. Marcus was good superior, fair to everyone and he’d become a friend. The problem was that he seemed to want more than friendship. Not that he’d have said it, but Lír thought to see it in the way he sometimes looked at him – like now. Sometimes their hands touched as if by accident. Lír wasn’t sure how to refuse him without insulting him, but he_ knew _he had to. An affair with his superior could only turn out badly for him._

_“Marcus, can I ask you something?”_

_Marcus’s smile vanished a little when he heard his earnest tone._

_“Sure.”_

_“You... think me attractive, don’t you?”_

_“And if that were the case?”_

_The light at the bar was not the best, but Lír thought he saw Marcus blush._

_“I’d have to tell you, that you aren’t my type. I’m sorry.” Lír grimaced, feeling awkward. “Are we still friends?”_

_He had to give Marcus credit for not trying to change his mind, he only said: “Are you kidding? Of course we are. I’m not so vain to think that everyone wants me. But I’d have liked it, yes.”_

_He shrugged embarrassed. Lír ordered another drink for them.  
_

Marcus tensed when Lír’s fingers started to fumble with the buttons of his shirt.

“What do you think you’re doing, Lír?”, he asked surprised.

“I was told you requested me because you need my assistance at work, but surely you know that you can use your slave for other services, Master. And I know you had cast an eye on me.”

Lír’s finger brushed his nipple and Marcus shivered – but not with arousal.

“Stop!”, he ground out and Lír froze.

“Forgive me, Master”, he whispered. “I thought...”

Marcus laid his hands on his cheeks and looked seriously into his eyes.

“Lír, do you really believe I could do this to you? You turned me down back then and I’ve always accepted that. I’ll continue to accept it.”

“But why then did you insist on me?”, Lír asked softly.

“Because you are my friend and I’ll do what I can to keep you out of harm’s way.”

Lír’s eyes focused on him for the first time. “I heard how you tried to stop them from taking me, when they took me away. You argued that you needed my work experience, but I knew... I hoped...” Lír took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

Marcus shook his head. “What they are doing to your people is wrong. I don’t believe in the propaganda. In a just world you’d be free and my superior. You don’t have to thank me. Are you hungry? It’s late.”

“ _Now_ I’m hungry, yes.”

Lír slid from his lap and Marcus regretted for a moment to lose his closeness, but then he berated himself. Lír was out of bounds for him.

“I hope you are fine with spaghetti and tomato sauce. I’m not a good cook. I usually eat at the pub on the corner, but today I really don’t want to deal with how I’ll have to treat you in public.”

Lír laced his hands in front of him and said in a polite voice: “If you allow me to say so, Master, I think I know better what is appropriate than you.”

He gave him a cheeky grin and Marcus was endlessly relieved that he’d thawed. Lír the slave had freaked him out. He wouldn’t have known how to treat him, if they’d managed to break him. Marcus filled water in a pot and opened the sauce can. Lír watched him from the doorframe.

“ _I_ can cook”, he said after a while. “I’d probably have to eat in the backroom at that pub of yours. If they don’t expect you to have me kneel beside you the whole time and feed me by hand.”

Marcus grimaced. “I’ll go there tomorrow and ask. I’m a regular guest, maybe I can work something out with Gerhard.”

“Do we work tomorrow?”, Lír asked and Marcus shook his head.

“Two days special leave when you get a slave. To settle in."

Lír huffed and mumbled something he didn’t understand.

“Hm?”

“Fuck holidays”, Lír said a little louder, his face had become hard. “At least that’s what I expected.” He sighed. “I’m relieved that you aren’t like that.”

Marcus poured the pasta into a colander.

“Did you know that you were coming to me?”, he asked. Had Lír expected him to do that to him?

“No. I was only told that someone from my old office had requested me. I thought, it might be you, but I wasn’t sure until you opened the door. Marcus...” Lír laid his hand on his arm. “I _know_ that you are an ally, but I started to doubt everything I thought I knew in that place.”

“I’m not blaming you”, Marcus said. He took the plates and carried them to the dining table. “Please, sit.”

This time Lír didn’t hesitate to sit down on he offered chair. He devoured the spaghetti with a speed that made Marcus wonder when he’d eaten last. He didn’t look emaciated, but you never knew.

Marcus had a light sleep and although Lír was trying to stifle his sobs, he’d woken him. Marcus lay in the dark for a while and wondered, if Lír would feel embarrassed, if he went to him, but then he stood up. He couldn’t lie here and listen to him crying. He put on the lamp and walked through the doorframe to the living room. He could hear Lír suck in his breath.

“What’s wrong?”, Marcus asked and sat down beside the bed on the floor, he didn’t want to crowd him. Slowly he reached out and caressed his arm. “Are you in pain?”

Lír shook his head. “I... I should be glad that I’m here with you – and I am! – but I’m afraid of work. It often wasn’t easy before – but now... And they hurt me.”

It wasn’t as if Marcus hadn’t expected that. He continued to caress Lír’s arm and hoped it would soothe him.

“I’m sorry”, he said softly. “And I’ll protect you at work. You are my responsibility and I’m department head, our colleagues won’t get too close to you, I promise.”

“Thank you”, Lír whispered. “I only dreamed badly and... got all worked up about it.”

“No surprise. Can I do anything for you? A glass of water?”

Lír shook his head. “But... can you... could you hold me for a while?”, he asked softly.

"Sure?” Marcus was surprised that he wanted physical contact.

“Yes. I wasn’t touched for so long without it being sexual. Please.”

Marcus laid down on the narrow bed that wasn’t made for two grown men and gently embraced Lír.

“Like this?”

Lír laid his head on his chest and nodded. The light in Marcus’s bedroom was still on and sent a yellowish glow into the living room. It was calming, thought Marcus, as he gently stroked Lír's hair.


End file.
